Field of the Invention
This invention relates to actuators for hand operated dispensing pumps and more particularly, to actuators for hand operated dispensing pumps that foam the fluid being dispensed without the use of aerosol propellants.
Background Art
Hand operated foam pump dispensers are well known in the personal care industry for dispensing foam products. Pumps of this type require that the liquid and air be mixed under pressure in a dispenser bottle. Hand operated foam pumps commonly include a liquid pump chamber and an air pump chamber. Typically, a piston moves between the charge and discharge positions in the air pump chamber and the liquid pump chamber to draw air or liquid into the respective chambers and force the air or the liquid from the chambers into a mixing region where the mixed air and liquid produce foam and the foamed products subsequently exit the nozzle of the actuator.
Prior art hand operated foam pumps are typically operated by means of trigger action requiring a trigger handle or linear action requiring a push button actuator, Both types of mechanisms feature fixed nozzles that protrude from the sides of the actuators. The protruding fixed nozzle or trigger of prior art hand operated foam pump actuators requires that they be packaged so as to prevent nozzle breakage during shipping. This limitation makes prior art hand operated foam pumps generally unsuitable for use in e-commerce where products are often shipped without packaging to prevent breakage and increasingly commonly, without any packaging at all.
What is needed therefore, to meet the demands of e-commerce, is an actuator assembly with a nozzle design that does not protrude from the actuator and therefore allows for filled products to be shipped with little or no packaging. It would be further desirable if the actuator were configured such that it could easily be locked into place to prevent actuation during shipping.